More On The TVM Litigation

Currently, litigation involving transvaginal mesh devices made by Ethicon and six other manufacturers is underway nationwide. More than 70,000 cases are currently consolidated into seven multidistrict litigation (MDL) proceedings assigned to U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin. In March, days after the jury issued its verdict in Perry, and on the fifth day of trial, Ethicon settled a bellwether case in the Ethicon MDL that alleged transvaginal mesh injuries. In September 2014, a federal jury in West Virginia awarded $3.3 million in a case involving Ethicon’s TVT-O transvaginal sling.

On April 28, 2015, Boston Scientific announced a $119 million settlement to resolve 2,970 product liability cases involving mesh. This does not include approximately 25,000 additional cases filed against Boston Scientific in U.S. and federal state courts. On May 11, 2015, the federal bellwether case of Sanchez v. Boston Scientific settled after a week of trial, and just before the jury heard the closing arguments. The case was remanded back to the Central District of California from West Virginia, and involved the Pinnacle Pelvic Floor Repair Kit and the Advantage Transvaginal Mid-Urethral Sling System. The Pinnacle device was found to be defective by another jury in a federal court in Florida in 2014, which awarded four Plaintiffs a total award of $26.7 million.

In May 2014, Endo International’s American Medical Systems became the first major manufacturer to settle a large number of claims, agreeing to pay $830 million to resolve approximately 20,000 mesh claims. In smaller settlements, a majority of the remaining 23,000 claims have been resolved since the May 2014 settlement was announced.

Trials are set to begin involving Boston Scientific devices in June 2015 in Texas, Massachusetts, and California state courts. In October 2015 a case involving Mentor OB Tape is set in Georgia state court. Two trials involving Bard mesh sling devices are set prior to December 2015 in the MDL. Upcoming Ethicon trials are scheduled in August in Texas and West Virginia state courts, with one in December in Pennsylvania. If you need additional information on this litigation, contact Leigh O’Dell, a lawyer in our firm’s Mass Torts Section, at 800-898-2034 or by email at Leigh.Odell@beasleyallen.com. Leigh has been very active in the TVM litigation.